Thanksgiving was much better this year than last. This year I had two Thanksgiving meals and last year I had none. This year I was able to spend some time with loved ones and last year I just wanted to crawl into a warm hole.
Last year I had a fairly large tumor (benign) removed from my liver just days before Thanksgiving. Oh yes, and they took my gallbladder out because "it looked ugly." Doc, I'd just like to say the human heart isn't that pretty but we all want to keep those. Organs can be ugly. Anyway, I only spent one night in the hospital and spent Thanksgiving in relative peace. I returned to work on a shortened schedule the day after Thanksgiving. I healed quite quickly and life went on. However, I was aware that there were bits of the tumor left and they would have to be monitored. I didn't realize how bad I was dreading this until I was told this year's MRI showed small bits that do not need removal. I can't tell you how relieved that I am. I will have a yearly MRI but may not even need another surgery. The doc asked me if I still had pain and I said that occasionally it hurt a little but not bad. She asked where and I had to say that it was odd that some of my pain was on the left (your liver is on the right.) She explained that they put the camera in on the left side and occasionally wrench it around to get the camera angle that they need. (Aha!) For all of my curious biology buddies, I asked if about your liver regenerating. She said that some do grow some but they heal themselves more than regenerate, but she also said that mine seemed to be "a good size" and may be regenerating a bit.
I always try to let people know how much they mean to me, but maybe I have yet one more thing to be thankful for at Thanksgiving. I think the best thing is that not only do I have a million things to be thankful for, the best thing is that I know I do.
